


Pumpkin Spice Latte

by orphan_account



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-03
Updated: 2014-10-03
Packaged: 2018-02-19 16:45:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2395544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>kieren and simon are in college and kieren is the cute barista who writes his number on the cups and doodles hearts in caramel syrup on the whipped cream. that's it. that's the fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Caramel Heart

**Author's Note:**

> this is a oneshot for now, i'll continue it if there's interest but idkkkk. this is basically exploiting my love for starbucks (it's not an addiction i can stop any time). bye

Around fourty-four minutes past six am, Simon stumbled in to the campus Starbucks, clearly the result of only getting four hours of sleep, which was the result of multiple exams all stacked on top of each other.  
When he reached the counter, the barista smiled at him, way, _way_ too chipper for the hour. It wasn't even that early, but it felt like three am.  
"How may I help you?" The barista asked, a smile across his face.  
"Uh, can I get a large pumpkin spice latte?" Simon asked, yawning quickly after.  
"Actually, it's called a venti, and that'll be $5.01."  
"Whatever. I don't care." He said, noting the wry smirk on the barista's (Kieren, according to his nametag) face, before handing him his debit card, watching as he slid it through the machine and then handed it back.  
"Thanks." He murmured under his breath, dropping loose change from his pocket in to the change jar, going to wait by the counter for his drink. 

Out of nowhere, a chipper voice greeted him, with an arm slung around his chest, and a friendly peck on the cheek.  
"Oh, hi Amy." Simon greeted sleepily, turning to give her a hug. Apparently, from the chipper voice behind the counter, the barista knew Amy too. Oh, that must've been the Kieren that Amy rattled on about all the time.  
"Venti pumpkin spice latte!" Kieren called out, before Simon witnessed Amy hop on the counter and give Kieren a hug.  
Simon awkwardly collected the warm beverage, wrapping his hands around it, enjoying the warmth from the pumpkin-scented beverage.  
"Well, I'll let my two BFF's introduce themselves! Later!" He heard Amy say, before skipping out the door.

Sighing, Simon popped off the lid off the coffee with intentions to stir it, but instead, he couldn't help but notice the heart neatly drawn in caramel syrup, and he quickly, hopefully stealthily, took his phone out of his pocket, and snapped a picture of it before sliding it back in to his pocket and returning the lid to it's place. Instead of rushing back to studying and his dorm room, he sat down on a large, comfortable armchair, sipping the coffee at a faster than normal rate, downing the sweetened but bitter liquid happily, noting that it didn't really take affect on him, but it took some of the sleepy haze away.  
Looking at Kieren (apparently, they hadn't properly met), he saw that the barista had been looking at him too, gaining a prompt blush from Simon, ducking his head down towards his chest, unlocking his phone and scrolling down his instagram feed in a fruitless attempt to distract himself and keep himself awake. The distraction was quickly over when he felt a breeze, and then heard the armchair across from him move.  
"Studied hard?" Kieren asked, and Simon locked his phone and nodded.  
"Yeah, I've got so many fucking things to study for." He sighed, dragging his hand across his eyes tiredly.  
"I get that. Well, I'm off at 12, and I've got no more classes today. Think you could take some time out of your busy schedule and go to dinner later?"  
"U-uh, sure. Yeah, sure. I'd love that." Simon replied, smiling.  
"Kay, see you later then. Your coffee's getting cold, by the way." Kieren said, placing a warm hand on Simon's shoulder before returning to his place behind the counter, giving a wink to Simon as he got up to leave.  
"My number's on the cup." He heard as he walked out, a giddy smile on his face.  
Pausing a few steps outside of the door, he put the number in his contacts as "cutie barista", followed by the coffee emoji.  
"See you later?" He typed, sending it and getting a reply almost immediately.  
"I'm holding you to that, mister."


	2. Pancakes and Hot Chocolate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dates, pancakes, and Mean Girls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm trash  
> i wrote another chapter because i have nothing to do and i'm already painfully attached to this fic ok  
> oh btw nice comments are the best and i will love you forever if you leave any

When Kieren knocked on Simon's door, he anxiously tugged down the sleeves of his button down shirt, before opening the door and seeing the strawberry blonde standing there, just a hair shorter than him.  
"Hey!" Kieren greeted, not sure if he should hug Simon or not. Instead, they awkwardly both stood there, smiles on both of their faces.  
"Uh, hey." Simon replied, looking over Kieren once before walking out the door, locking it behind him. (He didn't have a roommate, too many people in such a tiny space.)  
"So, you know Amy?" He said awkwardly, trying to break the ice.  
"Yeah, I mean, she's my BFF. She's cool." Kieren replied breezily.  
"Hm. She's really nice, yeah."  
"Man of little words? I have to say, you took my breath away when I first saw you, but _man_." Kieren flirted blatantly, offering his hand to Simon, who gladly accepted it, ignoring the cool fall air.  
"Well, Mister 'I flirt with guys by putting caramel hearts in their coffee foam', I'll have you know that's a very unacceptably way of flirting." He retorted teasingly, looking over at Kieren who simply said "You're really fucking adorable, you know that?"  
"I've been told." Simon hummed, squeezing Kieren's hand as they entered the restaurant. It was a small place, with an old green door, the paint flaking off in some places, but the restaurant had charm. It was run by a few grad students, and staffed by broke college kids, but the place was affordable and had character.  
A small, blonde woman took the pair to their booth, flashing a smile at the two.  
"Date night?" The waitress asked, holding up her wrist, which had a rainbow barcode on it, with pride written underneath.  
"Yeah." They said in unison as she handed them menus.  
"Well, I'll leave you lovebirds to the menu! I'm Alexis and I'm your server today. Just gimme a holla if you need me!" She said.  
"Okay." Simon said with a nod, before turning to Kieren and looking at the menu.  
"I want pancakes. Is pancakes for dinner an acceptable first date food?" Simon asked with a laugh, watching as Kieren rolled his eyes.  
"Of course, Mister Sweet Tooth." Kieren replied, sliding his menu to the side. "We're getting pancakes for dinner, it's settled." He added, stacking his menu on top of Simon's.  
"Pancakes for dinner works for me." He agreed, nodding.

When the nice waitress came back, they promptly placed an order for two large hot chocolates and two stacks of pancakes, one chocolate chip and one blueberry whole wheat. (Simon had "pretentious bitch orders" according to Kieren.)  
Thirty minutes later, the hot chocolate and pancakes were on their table, served by the way-too-peppy Alexis.  
Simon smiled at the stack of pancakes before him, before pouring a copious amount of maple syrup across the pancakes, handing it to Kieren, who gladly accepted it, pouring the amber liquid across his pancakes. (Maple syrup and chocolate is a think, ok?)  
Taking the fork in his hand, Simon acted if he was going to take a bite of his own pancakes, but instead, he reached across the table and stole a bite of Kieren's, licking the maple syrup off his lips from the pancakes, and Kieren couldn't help but lean over and peck him on the lips, earning a blush and a smile from Simon, who just continued to eat pancakes as if nothing had happened. Occasionally, he stole glances at Kieren, who would make a funny face whenever Simon looked up at him.  
"You know, whenever you want your venti pumpkin spice latte, you're gonna have to come see me." Kieren said. Simon laughed at that, almost dropping his fork.  
"You're an idiot." He replied fondly, which made Kieren flush pink, ever so slightly. 

When they both finished their pancakes, Kieren asked Alexis for the check, and she promptly handed the pink slip of paper to them, which had "it's on the house!" scrawled across it in horrible handwriting. Simon decided to leave a large tip and a nice note on the back of the check before he shrugged his coat back on, offering to get Kieren's.  
"What do you think I am, a housewife?" Kieren replied to that, prodding Simon's arm gently.  
"The exact opposite of that." He said back, offering his arm to Kieren, who looped his through Simon's.  
When they reached the door of the small restaurant, it was raining, just a gentle drizzle, but still rain,  
Simon made a irritated noise, pulling up the good on his jacket. "Fuck this weather." He sighed, watching as Kieren drew his hood up as well. "I'm not walking in this. I'll get a ride or something." Simon groaned, pulling out his phone and opening an app. "Lyft. It's pretty neat." He answered the unasked question from Kieren, who'd never used the app before.  
Ten minutes later the driver pulled up, letting the two in, wordlessly dropping the two off at Simon's dorm.  
"You can come in. I don't have a dead body in here or something." He said, pushing the key in the lock and swinging the door open. It was spacious and clean for a dorm room, everything was well organized apart from the few posters on the wall, which were of various things. The bed was pushed against the wall, probably in a futile attempt to save space.  
"Simon, I never took you for a murderer!" Kieren feigned surprise, holding a hand to his chest in mock horror.  
Simon just chuckled, sitting down on the bed, gesturing that Kieren could sit too. Kicking off his boots, Kieren swung his legs on the bed, leaning back against the concrete wall. "These walls need some color, Simon. They look so standard. I'll paint you something." Kieren said, before wildly gesturing at something. "It's such a waste of good space!" He added.  
"You paint?" Was all Simon could say. Hell, the cute barista that he'd met just this morning was offering to paint for him.  
"Yeah. I'm an artist. Art school. You probably gathered that by the fact that I work at a fucking coffee shop." He chuckled. "Yeah, hipster artist. I kinda gathered that." Simon replied, pressing a kiss firmly to Kieren's lips.  
"Sorry, I've been wanting to do that since I saw you this morning. Wanna watch a movie?" He said, a faint pink blush spreading from his cheeks to the tips of his ears.  
"Uh, sure. You got _Mean Girls_?" Kieren asked, grinning.  
"Who doesn't have that movie?" Simon agreed, pulling his macbook off the dresser and putting it on the bed, before clumsily pressing the dvd in to the slot, waiting for the menu before pressing play.  
They ended up in an awkward tangle of limbs, Simon's head resting on Kieren's bony legs, as Kieren wrapped black hair around his fingers, playing with Simon's hair absentmindedly, watching as Gretchen Weiners suggested that they just stab Caesar.  
At the end of the movie, Simon, half asleep, leaned up and kissed Kieren on the cheek, before shutting the laptop and dragging Kieren down.  
"On Wednesdays we wear pink." He said with a tired chuckle, holding Kieren to his chest. "You can stay the night if you want. I've got some stuff you can borrow." Simon said casually.  
"I have a 8am class tomorrow, I don't wanna bother you getting up, plus, you look tired, and I don't wanna keep you up." Kieren said with a wink, pulling himself up from Simon's grasp.  
Grinning, Simon walked Kieren to the door after the strawberry blonde had pulled on his boots, tucking the grey skinny jeans in to them. "Goodnight, hipster artist." He murmured, kissing Kieren once more for good measure, who in turn, pulled away and gave Simon a hug. "Night, mysterious irish person. Text me?" He said, and Simon nodded. "Yeah, okay. Goodnight." He grinned, waiting until Kieren had walked away to shut and lock the door.


End file.
